World Cup 2014: FIFA Will Not Discipline Arjen Robben for Diving

Dutch star Arjen Robben said he was fouled on the pivotal play against Mexico.

Wong Maye-E / Associated Press

By ANDREW DAS

June 30, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — FIFA said it would not open disciplinary proceedings against the Netherlands forward Arjen Robben, who admitted to diving in Sunday’s victory over Mexico.

Robben was awarded a penalty in the 90th minute after the referee determined he was tripped by defender Rafael Márquez only yards from Mexico’s goal. Klaas Jan Huntelaar buried the subsequent penalty, which gave the Netherlands a dramatic 2-1 victory that eliminated Mexico.

Speaking with Dutch television afterward, Robben, who has a history of embellishing contact to win fouls and free kicks, acknowledged diving in the area during the game — just not on the play that preceded the winning goal.

“The one at the end was a clear penalty, but I have to admit there was an incident in the first half where I did dive,” Robben said. “I must apologize. I should not be doing that.”

Amid a growing firestorm over the comments, the Dutch football association released a statement later Monday clarifying Robben’s comments, saying he had merely been being “honest.” The statement noted that Robben acknowledged going down twice in the first half, “and that in one of these situations, a penalty should have been given, but in the other one, he admitted to going to the ground too easily.”

Robben’s comments appeared to be an admission that he had violated Article 57 of FIFA’s disciplinary code, which states that any player “who violates the principles of fair play or whose behavior is unsporting in any other way may be subject to sanctions.”

But on Monday a FIFA spokeswoman said that the disciplinary body could only act retroactively to look into “serious infringements” unseen by the referee. Instead, the spokeswoman, Delia Fischer, emphasized that referees were trained to spot diving and to issue yellow cards for it, and she appealed to “respect the spirit of fair play, which is the overarching message we have to all participants.”

FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter, is on record supporting using video evidence after the fact to punish players who dive. Writing in a FIFA magazine in February, he said: “Video evidence can be used for serious breaches of the principle of fair play such as brawling, spitting at opponents, verbal insults and racist slurs, or for incorrectly awarded red or yellow cards. In cases such as these we must make use of the avenues already open to us and intervene after the event if necessary.

“In this context, we should include the faking of injury, intentional diving or time-wasting in our considerations.”

But FIFA said Monday that those comments remained Blatter’s opinion, not policy.

Mexico’s coach, Miguel Herrera, was furious with the decision to award the late penalty to the Netherlands on Sunday, but that was only the loudest of his complaints about the referee, Pedro Proenca of Portugal.

“Today, it was the man with the whistle who eliminated us from the World Cup,” Herrera fumed in statements that could draw their own rebuke from FIFA. He added, “Out of four matches, we had three matches where the refereeing was disastrous.”

Mexico had several run-ins with the officials in Brazil. One of the linesmen in its first game was removed from the officials pool after blowing two offside calls in the Mexicans’ first game, a tight 1-0 win over Cameroon. Each decision cost Mexico what replays showed was a clear goal.

Correction: June 30, 2014

An earlier version of this article misidentified the team Mexico defeated in its first game at the World Cup. It was Cameroon, not Croatia.